The Bridgerton prequel series<\/a> is centred on Queen Charlotte\u2019s\u00a0rise to prominence and power, and how her young marriage to King George sparked both a great love story and a societal shift.<\/p>\n It\u2019s one of the first times that race has been placed front and centre in a TV period drama, with the series covering societal attitudes, prejudice and stereotypes as the young Queen was arranged to marry George as an initially tactical ploy between Germany and England.<\/p>\n Speaking to RadioTimes.com<\/a> and other press about the series, Arsema Thomas, who plays the role of young Agatha Danbury, spoke about the importance of racial representation like we see in Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story.<\/p> \u201cI think this representation is important because when I look at the show, I am both excited that it exists because nothing like it exists but sad that it is the first of its kind to exist. This idea of a period drama with the lead being a Black queen and then supported by another Black woman of aristocracy \u2013 that has never happened.<\/p>\n \u201cFor all of the beauty and creativity that fiction gives us, it feels like the period genre is so ruled in accuracy but when it comes to everything else but race, accuracy doesn\u2019t seem to matter.\u201d<\/p>\n She continued: \u201cI think of all of the shows and movies that take place in Italy or Russia, yet all of the actors are speaking in British accents. Our ability to remove that level of reality in those cases but not in the case of race is indicative of the fact that representation still needs to be pressed today.\u201d<\/p>\n Read more:<\/strong><\/p>\n Although Lady Danbury is someone that Bridgerton fans know very well, Thomas also revealed that the side of her we\u2019ll see within her younger version isn\u2019t someone that people will immediately recognise.<\/p>\n She continued: \u201cI think the journey starts off with Agatha, not Lady Danbury just yet, in a very demanding and seemingly imprisoning marriage with an older man.<\/p>\n \u201cYou see a very different version of her because she acquiesces, she doesn\u2019t seem like she\u2019s going to change. It feels as though she doesn\u2019t believe that there is any option than for her to fulfil her duty as wife.\u201d<\/p>\n The story contained within the new series is one of fiction, but the character of Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz doesn\u2019t appear in Julia Quinn\u2019s source novels at all. Her inclusion as a mixed-race queen in Bridgerton was Shonda Rhimes\u2019s idea, making it an important focal point of the series.<\/p>\n Speaking to Radio Times magazine<\/strong>, Golda Rosheuvel said:\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s great to see somebody like me in a wonderful, amazing, fantastical, beautiful, glitzy and glamorous period drama. That\u2019s really important to celebrate.\u201d<\/p>\n In the same issue, new leading actress India Amarteifio (who plays the young Queen) was asked about what the success of Bridgerton means to her as a woman of mixed heritage.<\/p>\n She said: \u201c[Showrunner] Shonda Rhimes is at the forefront of this movement of including people in genres where they didn\u2019t exist before \u2014 people just weren\u2019t writing shows for people of colour to be in period costumes. I completely relate to this \u2014 I never used to watch period dramas. I\u2019m half black and white. My family looks like lots of different people.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t see myself represented so I didn\u2019t ever feel a need to watch them. But now? Now I love period pieces.\u201d<\/p> ![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2023\/02\/QUEENCHARLOTTENetflix3-f61452a.jpg?quality=90&resize=618%2C413"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
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